STORRS >> Even in the midst of a humbling season-opening loss, it was hard to miss the impact of the next wave of UConn defensive stalwarts.

Whether it was Junior Joseph setting up UConn’s only touchdown by forcing and recovering a second-quarter fumble, Cam Stapleton sharing one of the Huskies’ two sacks or Jamar Summers and Folorunso Fatukasi combining for five tackles on that clear late August evening, it was rather evident that the defense was going to have some talented newcomers to build around.

Seven freshmen saw time on defense during the 35-10 loss to Brigham Young in the 2014 season opener.

Six of them are expected to be starters when the Huskies host Holy Cross (7:30 p.m., SNY) in Thursday’s opener and the only reason all seven of them won’t be out there for the first defensive snap of the season is because Vontae Diggs is still working his way back from a knee injury suffered early in preseason camp.

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Over the last three seasons, UConn is one of six Football Bowl Subdivision programs with at least 800 tackles among seniors still on active rosters. The Huskies’ 85 1/2 tackles for loss and 35 sacks rank fifth and fourth respectively among FBS senior classes.

“We’ve all been together for a long time,” Fatukasi said. “It is just exciting to get back out with the guys especially since is literally my last ride. It’s tough when you think about it because man we have been through a lot and this is our last one together so it is exciting. The rest of the team, they watch us, see us and follow right behind us.”

UConn is set to start seniors Cole Ormsby, Fatukasi and Luke Carrezola on the defensive line, Joseph and Stapleton at linebacker and in the secondary, Summers will likely be joined by fellow seniors Tre Bell, a transfer from Vanderbilt, and Brice McAllister.

“We know each other and know everybody’s abilities so it really helps us understand where people are going to be during certain plays,” Stapleton said. “We just trust each other. You have to trust your teammates to do their job all the time and you do your job all the time. I feel like with the time we put in together, there is a really strong trust and bond we have.”

McAllister was a key figure on Suffield Academy’s 9-0 team during his senior season, Ormsby led Windsor High School to 11-1 records and a pair of state playoff appearances as a junior and senior, Carrezola and Joseph were part of 13-2 Pennsylvania state playoff squads in their final high school seasons so this is a group that came into college accustomed to winning. However, their time at UConn has been a different story. The Huskies have an 11-26 record the last three seasons, and they were outscored 144-51 in a four-game losing streak at the end of the 2014 season. Their junior campaigns ended by being outscored 196-59 in the final six contests.

“We haven’t had too much success around here,” Diggs said. “Coach (Randy) Edsall has a lot at this university so our adversity and prosperity is going to continue to grow, not winning a lot has put a big old chip on our shoulders. I think with the senior class we have, not really having a winning record in a while, I think that is going to bring a lot of leadership to the team.

“I came in as a true freshman and played. I got to go against pros like Obi (Melifonwu), Andrew Adams, Kenton Adeyemi and those guys. We all progressed together, we always on each other for better and for worse and that is how we are as a group.”

Leaving UConn with a winning season is first and foremost on the minds of the seniors. However, they also have a chance to become fourth senior class at UConn during the FBS era to combine for 1,000 career tackles.

“It is my senior year and with a lot of these guys, we have been playing together since freshman year,” Carrezola said. “We’re coming into the new system. We got lucky because we have a good group of guys who understand the system, we have a lot of guys returning.”

UConn is moving on from Bob Diaco’s bend but don’t break system that did plenty of both during a season-ending six-game losing streak a season ago. New defensive coordinator Billy Crocker prefers an aggressive style of defense where more blitzes might be called on Thursday night than in a month’s worth of games when Diaco was calling the shots.

“It is a really solid senior class that will provide some leadership,” Crocker said. “I talked to those guys and they are going to be pied pipers, if they go, (the younger players) will follow.”

Joseph enters his senior season with 215 career tackles, Carrezola, Ormsby and Fatukasi have combined for 52 tackles for loss while Summers has 11 career interceptions so there are proven impact players at all three levels of the defense.

“We know each other, we know when somebody is slacking so we will get on them,” Ormsby said. “We know your ability so if we think you are slacking we are going to push you to get that ability out of you.”

“I think there’s a lot of potential. We are definitely going to do something. We are going to get a lot of sacks, a lot of tackles for losses, batted passes and everything. The mentality is always going to be the same, we are going to get after it.”

Head of the Class

UConn’s senior class is among the tops in the nation in terms of returning tackles, tackles for loss and sacks:

TACKLES

NC State 992

New Mexico State 964

Baylor 849

South Florida 849

UMass 831

UConn 804

TACKLES FOR LOSS

NC State 117

Arkansas State 87

Baylor 86

Maryland 86

UConn 85.5

Tulsa 85

Boston College 82.5

SACKS

NC State 39

Arkansas State 38

Tulsa 36

Maryland 35

UConn 35

— Statistics include seniors on active college rosters and are from 2014-16.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS

This year’s UConn senior class could become the fourth in program history with 1,000 career tackles since the Huskies made the move to the FBS level. Here’s a list of top senior classes dating back to 1974 in terms of total tackles with players with at least 150 career stops.